#schwarznase

[lightsandfire]

25-11-2023, part one:

I got my first whole fleece! It's from a Walliser Schwarznase (Walliser Blacknose). I already got rid of all the dirty and matted parts (pictured is the whole fleece before cleaning), and I took the very dirty edges off to do an experiment on cleaning.

The length of the fibers is +- 10 cm and the locks are very soft. There is quite a bit of vegetable matter, but I think that's to be expected. Look at those curls though! So pretty! I'm thinking about keeping some locks to use as texture while spinning.

Currently I'm scouring some of the dirty sides in warm water and dish soap, to see if they can be used for a test spin. A lot of brown water has been discarded already, so it looks to be cleaning up nicely. I hope it won't mat :)

The rest of the fleece has been rolled up in an old blanket and stored for now, untill the test spin has been done.

Now I have to see if I can borrow a carder from someone (or hand cards), so I can try to spin some up! (Once it is clean and dry, that is). Goal will probably be to spin a sweather out of this.

Updates wil follow in the next days/weeks! I'm very excited :D

(Part two)

[babajeza]

Weich und flauschig – Soft and Furry

Schon vor einiger Zeit wurde ich angefragt, ob ich einen Filzkurs erteilen könnte. Ich lehnte ab, versprach aber, einen Ersatz für mich zu suchen. Eine Freundin sagte zu, nachdem ich ihr versprochen hatte, die Fahrerin zu sein. Am letzten Samstag war es dann endlich so weit. Wir fuhren mit allem Material bepackt in die Innerschweiz, wo drei Frauen motiviert in die Geheimnisse des Filzens…

[heini74]

Moin #müritz #mecklenburgvorpommern #warenmüritz #mecklenburgischeseenplatte #nature #mecklenburg #ostsee #seenplatte #müritzsee #mv #germany #mvtutgut #waren #graalmüritz #urlaub #malinois #malinoisvommüritzfalken #schwarznase #malinoislovers #müritznationalpark #malinoisofinstagram #malinoislove #malinoisworld #malinoislife #ferienparkmüritz #warenandermüritz #winter #müritzfischer #meckpomm #müritzeum (hier: Waren (Müritz)) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpL4nUqn9gw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7ol6e74o4bg7

[rialynia]

Schwarznase, a stray cat that lives now at my parents house. Big cat - big heart, and always hungry ;-)

[synychka-blog]

На Львівщині вироблятимуть сир з овечого молока кращих європейських зразків

Господарство у Городоцькому районі на Львівщині, що займається розведенням племінних овець, планує започаткувати сироваріння. Про це фермер Богдан Когут розповів в інтерв’ю на Kurkul.com. «Ми займаємось племінним розведенням овець. Працювати почали у 2015 р., коли завезли овец�� породи Тексель (французька лінія) і овець породи Оксфорд Доун (Oxford Down) та Walisser Schwarznase. Також ми займаємося…

[jeepermtj]

#sheepshearing #sheep #blacknose #valaisblacknosesheep #valaisblacknose #schwarznase #knieschonerschafe #shearing #hairdresser #hairdressermagic #coiffeur http://ift.tt/2ozMVSo

[lightsandfire]

Weekends of 2-12-2024 and 11-12-2023, part four:

It took me a long time to write up the next installment in the series, but here I am! Only four months later!

Anyway, the weekend of the 2nd of december was for carding. I texted a friend of mine who has a drumcarder, and luckily enough I was able to borrow it for a few weeks. The first weekend I carded the first half (partly scoured, partly soaked overnight). Part of that (the scoured stuff) I used for a dyeing experiment with food colouring:

The blue turned out very pale and kind of a blue to green gradient, which I ended up spinning as a thick 3-ply. The purple/red ended up kind of blood coloured? At least that is what it reminds me of, this is still unspun. Conclusion: blue does not like to exhaust, get better dyes.

I also did some testspins and swatches:

On the left pic is a small test I did to see if I liked the way I cleaned and carded the wool. Of the swatches, on the left is a 3-ply (chainply), right is a two ply (I think, I did not note it down). I ended up chosing the two ply, as it is a bit more supple and I like the airiness of it better.

I decided that I wanted a bit more lanolin in it while spinning, so the other half I carded straight from the fleece during the second weekend:

There were so many stubborn locks! Since I didn't open up the locks before hand, I had to do so while carding. I ended up gathering clumps of curls in my hand and running them allong the carder to open them up. I carded each bat again to get rid of most of the clumps.

Now to start spinning and knitting! Thanks for following along!

(Part one) (Previous part)

[lightsandfire]

26-11-2023, part two:

I started the day with skirting the fleece. I removed very dirty and matted pieces, along with big pieces of vegetable matter, this was discarded.

I removed the dirty edges (belly, top of legs, neck), these I washed with dishwashing soap with the following method (by no means a tutorial, just what I did):

1. Fill the bucket with hot water (I made it so hot it was steaming, but I could (barely) put my hands in it), about 5 liters. Add dishwashing soap, I didn’t measure, but the water felt soapy (maybe 3-4 tablespoons?). Add the wool, let soak for 15 minutes, drain.

2. Repeat step 1, but with about half the soap.

3. Fill the bucket with hot water (a little less hot than step 1, but still hot), add the wool and let soak for 15 minutes, drain.

4. Repeat step 3. The water was not completely clear after this step, but that’s fine. I plan to dye this fiber, so I will soak it again before I do that. If you want to get it cleaner, you can soak one more time.

5. Squeeze as much water out of the wool as possible and spread on a drying rack. It will drip quite a bit at first, so I kept it outside for a few hours before letting it completely dry inside (1-ish day).

Note: The curls kept a lot of dirt in them and needed some agitation to get clean. Do not agitate the wool, it can felt! I gently rubbed the curls between my fingers while soaking, but even now as it’s drying I can see there is still some dirt stuck in them. Maybe an idea would be to open up the locks before scouring.

(This is wet, it looks less yellow when dry)

After drying, I weighted the wool. This came out to be about 150 grams. Unfortunately, I didn't weigh the fiber before washing. This I will keep in mind if I use this method of scouring again. All of the skirting and scouring took about two hours.

Here are some pictures of the dry, scoured, wool and the pretty curls! The wool looks less yellow in person, but that might also be the artificial lighting. I was at school all day today, so I will try to get better pictures tomorrow. Still,, look at that texture! Those curls!

The wool is so lovely. It's very soft and white (with slightly yellow ends, but those will blend in when carded).

Plan for tomorrrow: Weigh out +-500 grams of the fleece to let soak in cold water overnight. This will remove dirt and some lanolin.

Overal plan: Card both fibers (scoured and soaked) in the weekend. Dye the scoured fiber. Do a test spin with the soaked fiber (sweather on needles 8-10), decide if I want to ply this with white alpaca or not.

Thanks for following along!

(Part one) (Part three)

[lightsandfire]

27 & 28 -11-2023, part three:

I took about 400 grams of the fleece to do a test spin with, I took this from either the neck or the butt area (no idea which side haha).

I filled a large bucket/tub thing with cold water (25 liters?) and soaked the fleece overnight. I put the bucket in the shed to protect it from snow and animals, but also to protect my house from the smell.

Fleece has a lot of dirt, lanolin and suint in it. Suint is dried sweat from the sheep. It is soluble in cold water and acts as a natural soap (it contains potassium salts and soapy organic acids). When soaking the fleece in cold water over night, it dissolves and acts as a cleansing agent, removing dirt and some of the lanolin. This method does not work for very dirty or greasy fleeces, then it might be better to scour with soap. If you want to dye the fiber, you will also want to remove more (if not all) the lanolin. I will check if this soak was enough for my preferences after the wool dries. Otherwise, I will scour it with dishwashing soap. (Waltin, 2019 & McCune, 2022)

In the summer, I would like to experiment with fermenting a piece of fleece. This method also uses the suint to clean the fleece, only you let it ferment for a week or longer. (This smells a lot though, so I'll have to convince my parents hah)

After the fleece soaked overnight, I rinsed it twice with cold water (letting it soak +-10 minutes each time) and squeezed as much of the water out as possible. Then I spread it out on a drying rack. It is currently drying, I expect it to take 2-3 days to dry fully. This should be in time for me to card it in the weekend.

While it looks cleaner than the unwashed fleece, it is not as clean as the scoured wool (which I forgot to take better pictures of...). While spinning I will decide which way I find nicer, in the grease or not. I will then wash/scour the rest of the fleece accordingly.

This wool I want to use for some test spins and swatches, to find out the following:

Combine with alpaca or not

2 or 3 ply (If 2 ply, 100% wool or 50/50 wool/alpaca; if 3 ply, chain ply or 3 wool or with 2 wool 1 alpaca)

Spinning thickness (needle 10, thick but drapey fabirc)

Possibly only adding alpaca in the cuffs and neck? (to lessen the itchiness)

Thanks for following along!

(Part one) (Previous part) (Part four)

(Waltin, J. (2019, June 15). Washing fleece. Josefin Waltin Spinner. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://waltin.se/josefinwaltinspinner/washing-fleece/)

(McCune, K. (2022, July 10). How Do You Wash Wool In A Suint Bath? Woolmaven.com. Retrieved November 28, 2023, from https://woolmaven.com/673/how-do-you-wash-wool-in-a-suint-bath/)

[heini74]

#müritz #mecklenburgvorpommern #warenmüritz #mecklenburgischeseenplatte #nature #mecklenburg #ostsee #seenplatte #müritzsee #mv #germany #mvtutgut #waren #graalmüritz #urlaub #malinois #malinoisvommüritzfalken #schwarznase #malinoislovers #müritznationalpark #malinoisofinstagram #malinoislove #malinoisworld #malinoislife #ferienparkmüritz #warenandermüritz #winter #müritzfischer #meckpomm #müritzeum (hier: Waren (Müritz)) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpL4Tb1nIfB/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=zl5thlu4p62o